Loony for Lovegood
by damaged-wonderland
Summary: Draco Malfoy is a proud, Pureblood Slytherin, as he always was - until his world is turned upside-down by an unexpected crush. Could Malfoy be Loony for Lovegood?
1. Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour

She was sitting by the window in Florean's Ice Cream Parlour, with an untouched sundae melting in front of her; I couldn't help but stare at her in wonder. She was reading _The Quibbler_ again - poor excuse for a magazine if you ask me, which you should - but the right way around this time. I do wish she didn't seem so...so..._Normal._  
It was her small, insignificant quirks that made her bearable; maybe even cute. _Listen to yourself Draco! Loony Lovegood, of all people! Blood traitor, to say the least!_

Pansy was clutching my hand as we walked through the high street of Diagon Alley,_ you're dating Pansy,_ I reminded myself. Over and over I repeated it in my head._ You're dating Pansy, a Slytherin, a Pureblood, evil as sin, detests Harry Potter but is still somehow sweet enough to be considered a girl._ Father would approve of Pansy, I wouldn't like to try my luck taking that Lovegood blood traitor home. _Rotten, lousy, blood traitor. Loves the mudblood and the Weasleys - let's not forget that Potter, she loves him too._  
She pulled me around to face her.  
"Draco, I need to buy some new dress robes..." She batted her eyelashes at me.  
"Well, um, why don't you go buy them...and I'll have your favourite ice cream waiting right here for you?"  
She narrowed her eyes at me, I can see she didn't like the idea, but she went anyway.

When I walked into Florean's, I didn't take the empty seat opposite Loony that I had been drawn to. Instead, I took a seat at a table halfway across the room, but still close enough to sneak a glance at her. _What is wrong with me?_

People stay away from Loony most of the time, she's incredibly delusional. She believes in Nargles and every other lie that her pathetic father printed. _So why am I so drawn to her?_ I couldn't take my eyes off her. Her copy of _The Quibbler_ was positioned in such a way that I couldn't see her face, but her golden hair glistened in the light of the last summer sun, drifting in through the window. Autumn was approaching, and with Autumn came a new year at Hogwarts. I would be seeing a lot more of Loony, that's for sure. A smile started to appear on my face - gentle at first - then, growing stronger. I wiped it off in a second when I realised what an idiot I looked, only Potter would act like this. _Only Potter would fall for a blood traitor._


	2. Platform Nine and Three Quarters

I saw Loony again the next week. She was sitting on her trunk, her head buried in the middle of a book I didn't recognise. _Strange_, I thought, _she always reads The Quibbler_. The book was thick and leather-bound and this strange change in personality drew me to her even more than before.

Just as my pathway veered towards Luna and the mysterious book, Pansy turned up and wrapped her arms around me. Never more have I detested her stupid little smile and her clingy manner.  
"Hey, baby," she said, in a voice that seemed too happy for my mood today. _How is it possible to be that happy right now?_  
"Hey, Pansy."  
"Whats wrong?" She seemed genuinely concerned, I shouldn't take this out on her. She saved me, when I think about it.  
Yeah, she saved me. _What was I thinking?_ I was going to talk to Loony - _actually talking to her_ - I should be thankful. Pansy is great for me, I'm wasting my time thinking about Loony.  
"Oh, you know, I just have to put up with Potter in potions for another term. At least I get to see Snape give him a detention almost every lesson for being the arrogant halfwit that he is."  
She was laughing now.  
"Come on, we should get our usual carriage before someone else gets it. You can't count on Crabbe and Goyle for anything."


	3. Enemy No1

Loony's presence seemed to follow me everywhere.  
Every step I took, there she was. I couldn't think about anything else but her. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep...

_You're being stupid, Draco. She doesn't even look twice at you, as if that's the only reason you shouldn't be thinking bout her. She's a filthy blood traitor! She's on Potter's side. And a Ravenclaw! You're going to taint your family name, worse, you will ruin your reputation at Hogwarts!_  
_Draco, the boy who doesn't love anything. The name doesn't really compare to "The Boy Who Lived". Is this really me?_

Just as I was lost in my thoughts, fighting a battle in my mind, she walked past. Her face was still buried in that mysterious book, her golden hair falling in beautiful waves at her side. She was wearing some sort of weird tiara, but that drew me to her even more, she's _extraordinary.._.

Just then, a scrawny figure hurried past me.  
"Hey, Luna! Wait up!" He called, as he caught up with her.  
And that's when she dropped the book from in front of her face and smiled. Her smile, it lighted up the whole room and I knew right then that there was no point fighting this anymore. When she spoke, her words were soft and sweet - I just wished she was saying them to me.  
"Oh, hello Neville," her dreamy voice seemed to float through the air.  
"You heading to the library?" He asked.  
"Yes, are you going too?" He nodded in reply and she looped her arm around his.

Loony and Longbottom?_ Loony and Longbottom!_ A surge of jealousy slashed through my veins and I felt my hands form a tight fist at my side. The corridor was deserted now, good thing too. I would be a laughing-stock if people found out that I had a crush on Loony Lovegood!_ A crush on Loony Lovegood!_ I laughed at the thought, and pushed the idea of this crush out of my head. Despite what I said before, I will have to start fighting.

Yet, somehow, I found myself wondering towards the library. Just as I was in Florean's, I was drawn to the table that Loony sat at, drawn to the empty seat beside her. But once again, I chose the seat a few tables away. I sat there for a moment - sneaking glances at her when I could - before I realised that I was being too obvious. Of course, what would somebody be doing in the library, by themselves, with no book or even a piece of parchment? I hurried to stand, anxious to not make any noise, that would just draw attention to me. I went to the nearest bookshelf and found a book that I could at least pretend to read.

I sat there for hours, occasionally swapping books, just watching her. Watching how her face lights up when Longbottom makes her laugh. Watching how her eyes sparkle, even in the low light of the library. The library will be closing soon, and eventually Neville leaves, but Luna stays in her seat and once again raises the book up to her face.

Just like that, we were alone. For the first time since I saw her in Florean's, we were alone, I could talk to her and no one would ever have to know about it. Well, apart from the librarian, but she's hardly listening to every word of a student's conversation. Even so, I wait for her to disappear through the book shelves to search for a book before I make my way over to Loony. My legs shook like crazy, I have never been this nervous in all of my life. I cleared my throat. She glanced up at me.  
"May I help you?" She said, in her wonderfully dreamy voice.  
"Um, yes. What is that you're reading?"  
_Did I really just ask what she was reading?_  
"Oh, it's just a book that my father gave me." She answered it so absent-mindedly, it's like she's already been asked the same thing. Well, she is friends with that mudblood Granger.  
"Well, I guess I'll see you around, Loony." It was unconscious, it just slipped out.  
After a brief moment, she answered me.  
"My name's Luna..." Her voice was quieter now, and it shook as she spoke. She looked down as her breath caught in her throat and she ran out of the library with tears racing down her face.


	4. Daydreams

I avoided all contact with Luna for a while. I couldn't bear to face her again, not filled with the guilt of being the creator of those tears. The tears that haunted me. I have replayed that situation over and over in my head a million times, each time everything happened slightly different; but they all had one thing in common, I didn't call her Loony.

Perhaps the happiest of my stories was the one when we just spent all night talking. We crept down to the dungeons together, her hand in mine as she couldn't see in the low light and she had only been in the dungeons for potions class, where she generally followed her classmates. Everyone had already gone to bed, or were somewhere else in the castle, because the common room was empty. The expression on Luna's face changed from curiosity, to fear, and back again as she explored the ornate, elegant decoration of the common room with her eyes; caressing every curve and swirl on each snake or skull, spread around the room. After that, we would stay up talking the entire night, in the light and warmth of the fireplace. We weren't necessarily dating in this dream, but it was perfect anyway.

Who would have thought it? Draco Malfoy of all people, showing compassion and maybe even love for Luna Lovegood? It seemed so surreal, the feeling was too good to be true.

They would think he was crazy, that he had gone soft. It was unlike many Slytherins to care for someone such as Luna, a rival house, a possible half-blood - I hadn't been able to check, I screwed things up when I tried to talk to Luna and I couldn't exactly ask Goyle - and a definite blood traitor. Father would immediately send me to Durmstrang if he heard. A year ago, I'd transfer happily, but everything had changed since that day at Florean's.

"Draco! I'm talking to you!" Pansy's high-pitched voice brought me back to reality, a little sooner than I would have liked. I was starting to really dislike this girl, but breaking up with her would ruin my reputation and my cover, in case of any wild rumours. Besides, even I wouldn't make two girls cry in one week.  
"Oh...of course...what was you saying?"  
"I was saying how that Loony Lovegood was telling all of Hogwarts that her father's captured some creature, one of those idiotic lies he prints in his magazine to fill up the pages because he can't get any real stories. She's pathetic...You know, you should start listening to me more, Draco. I am your girlfriend. It would be nice to be treated like one for a change," she crossed her arms irritably. I was close to breaking up with her right that second, but there was one thing I had to clarify.  
"Her name's Luna," I spoke flatly, then made my way to the dungeons, trying to banish the images of me and Luna from my mind.


	5. Fate

It seems that the images of me and Luna are permanently embedded in my mind. Every time I closed my eyes, there she was. Her blonde hair that flowed down to her waist; it was a colour that could be described as dirty, yet it shimmered perfectly enough to make her look spectacular. You could always find her wand tucked behind her ear, I smile at the familiarity of it, and how cute she looked with it placed there. Her eyes were an original shade of grey - or perhaps silver when in the light - the colour always intrigued me. Only in my thoughts of course, I couldn't be caught staring into Luna's eyes. _Imagine the scandal._  
The thought brought me tumbling back into reality. _Scandal_.

And there she was, right in front of my eyes.  
Would you call it fate? To be in a deserted room with a person that you had a particular longing for? I'm not sure if I believe in fate.

This was my chance, to prove to her that maybe I'm not all bad. But I can't apologise. No. That kind of thing would get around. Think, Draco. Say something that can become an insult, if you need to re-tell this story to your advantage.  
But would Luna really spread gossip? She doesn't seem the type. I decided that it doesn't matter.

"Why aren't you wearing shoes?" I asked, genuinely curious, however stupid I sounded. I couldn't really be all that odd when I'm with her.  
"Oh...they've hidden them again." She didn't even glance at me.  
"Who's they?"  
"I don't really know, it must be the nargles."  
"Hm," I suspect it was the people in her house, but I don't point this out to her. She's content. The type of content I'm envious of. The type where you don't have to hide, or be someone else, because you are perfectly happy being you. Even if that means that you are alone.

That was when she looked up at me for the first time, curiosity shined bright in her eyes.  
"How did you get in here?" She asked.  
That's when I looked at the room, really looked at it.  
The room of requirement.  
I had wished for a place to be alone with Luna.  
She had perhaps been seeking refuge, to read the _Quibbler_ in peace.  
But nonetheless, we were here.

_Fate_. Yes, I think I believe in that.


End file.
